Bus Surfing

Bus Surfing is a new workout I have devised. It is pretty simple, and all you knee is a city transit bus and a pair of shoes. Level 1 starts with you wearing a sturdy sneaker type shoes that provides a lot of support. You walk onto the bus and find a horizontal railing, that is about waist high. Do not use the rail on the top, that will come is more advanced levels. With both hands, get a firm grip of the railing and take half a step away from the railing. You do not want to lean on it. Once you have a good hold, prepare for the bus to start to move. You generally want to get into this position as quickly as possible, as there are some bus drivers who prefer the "Stop-and-Go" method, and will pull away from the curb before the doors have even closed. Once the bus is in motion you will hold your torso tight and strong and shift your weight from one foot to the other as the motion of the bus takes you. I generally find a wider stance to be more effective. Your arms should be strong and you will hold yourself upright. The goal of this level is to successfully complete the bus route with minimal movement. Once you have achieved this, you are ready to move on to Level 2.

Level 2 is the same as Level 1 except you will hold on to a pole this time, again with 2 hands. In Level 3 you will learn how to complete a bus route one handed! There are times where you will be unable to use both hands; whether it is because the bus is so crowded you can only steal enough of a railing for one hand, or maybe you are holding a coffee in the other hand. I highly recommend you learn this on both a railing and a pole, because sometimes you do not have a choice. In Level 4 we kick it up a notch and change our shoes to heals. Smaller heals at first, but then you can work your way up to stilettos if you wish. Depending on how strong your core and legs are, you can start with using the 2-hand grip, but if you feel strong enough, you can move directly to the 1-hand grip. Heals are tricky and you may spend a lot of time on this level, but I suggest you master it, before moving on to level 5. In Level 5 we move down towards the middle of the bus, where the only place to hold on to it the bar along the top. The bars usually have soft rubber loops that hang down every couple feet along the bar. Their purpose is to accommodate the shorter passengers who cannot reach the top bar. In Level 5 we will use our sturdy shoes again, and we will raise both our arms to the side and firmly grasp a bar with each hand. You will definitely notice you are using you upper body muscles a lot more. For Level 6, we do the same as Level 5 except we switch our shoes to heels again. In Level 7, we move back into our sturdy shoes and you will firmly hold the top bar with ONE hand. When you are comfortable, try this with heels. Level 8, you will hold onto the rubber loops, one in each hand to either side of you. If you feel ready to start off with heels, go ahead. But don't worry if you need to try this a couple time with your sturdy shoes.

Once you have mastered your balance with the loops, you can move on to Level 9. In Level 9, you will only hold on to ONE loop. Start off with sturdy shoes, and take your time working up to heels. There is the potential for injury here, to either yourself, or other passengers on the bus. Level 10 in the final level, and only Elite Bus Surfers has mastered this level. In Level 10, you will complete the route with NO hands. You cannot hold onto anything. If you can complete Level 10 in 6" Stilettos, you will have obtained Elite status.

So good luck to you all and Happy Surfing!